Drawing on millions of customer reviews, today Booking.com announced it will present 1,147,344 Traveller Review Awards for 2021, recognizing partners across 220 destinations who made travel experiences more memorable for travelers, whether they were booking a place to stay, rental car or airport taxi. The breadth and spread of winners in the Awards’ ninth year is a powerful testament to Booking.com’s partners’ dedication and resilience, as they managed to provide incredible travel experiences for people in every corner of the globe amidst a year of untold challenges for the entire industry.
“As trips became fewer and further between, each and every trip meant more to travelers than ever before, and it has become even more important to celebrate the outstanding service that the Traveller Review Award winners displayed during a year like no other,” said Justine Lim, Area Manager for Booking.com. “On our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, our partners play such an impactful role in delivering amazing experiences to travelers and I know that with their tenacity, partnership and passion, we can rebuild travel together, and help more and more travelers to rediscover our beautiful world over time.”
With so many incredible winners to highlight, including 257 in Hong Kong, Booking.com is uncovering the key attributes of a great stay, the Most Welcoming Regions on Earth and the incredible diverse offering that makes up the pool of partners that can proudly display a Traveller Review Award 2021.
Essential Attributes of a Great Stay
The Booking.com Traveller Review Awards 2021 reveal insights into traveler preferences throughout the past year, uncovering that Hong Kong travelers appreciate staff, location and cleanliness most when reviewing award-winning properties on the platform, with those attributes scoring highest among the categories that travelers rate following their stay. These preferences are consistent with global trends, which found staff to be the highest rated attribute among the Traveller Review Award 2021 winners, followed by cleanliness and location. With consumers increasingly conscious of health and hygiene, notably, on average, winners had a cleanliness score that was 17% higher than the average cleanliness score for non-winners, suggesting it may be a differentiator for a more perfect welcome.
2021’s Most Welcoming Places
Based on the share of properties receiving a Traveller Review Award 2021, Booking.com is revealing the Most Welcoming Regions on Earth for travelers to experience the best in hospitality and friendliness whenever it’s safe again to do so. From Taitung County (Taiwan) and Tasmania (Australia) to Prešovský kraj (Slovakia) and Oberösterreich (Austria) to Nova Scotia (Canada) and Iowa (United States) to Chubut (Argentina) and Minas Gerais (Brazil), these places reveal hospitality can be found in every corner of the globe. To learn more about these remarkable regions, click here.
Homes, Apartments and Unique Places Remain Top Traveler Favorites
While hotels remained the second most-awarded accommodation type globally for 2021, for the fourth consecutive year, four out of the five top-awarded accommodation types globally are unique places to stay: Apartments (484,243), hotels (175,748), holiday homes (123,145), guest houses (94,003), bed and breakfasts (78,903). The most-awarded accommodation types in Hong Kong for 2021 include hotels, guest houses, hostels, aparthotels, and apartments.
Bed and breakfasts, farm stays, country houses, inns and guest houses accounted for the most welcoming accommodation types globally, signaling just how memorable unique stay experiences are for travelers across the globe.** With alternative accommodations accounting for 30% of all new bookings in the third quarter of 2020, Booking.com is proud to offer so many unique stay experiences bringing superior hospitality to travelers.
Transport Partners Kept Travelers Moving
Recent Booking.com research shows 32% of Hong Kongers traveled more domestically in 2020 when compared to 2019, inline with the global number of 32%***.
As domestic travel became more common over the last year, Booking.com understands the immense undertaking that its transport partners faced including increased customer demand in certain markets and swift introduction of increased cleanliness measures in between pick-ups, provision of masks and sanitizers and minimizing customer contact and social distancing, among other initiatives.
This year, 2,100 rental car pick-up locations available on Booking.com, which offers rental cars in 160 countries worldwide, have been awarded. Airport taxis, which are available in over 800 destinations globally, are also being recognized for their outstanding service, with 2,830 drivers across 18 providers winning Traveller Review Awards.
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